Helpful Articles
On report writing: who is “this officer…”?
PRI Management Group August 2016 It's 2016 and we're still talking about police reports written in the 3rd person. After reading literally thousands upon thousands of police reports in our work as police records consultants and auditors, we've seen our fair share of...
There’s No Such Thing As Automated Redaction
Edward Claughton, President PRI Management Group A couple of body-worn camera companies (BWC) are promoting "automated redaction" as a key feature of their product. Let me be very clear: there is no such thing! While the software may be able to track a face or an...
Why Quality Control is So Important in Police Records Operations
Print .PDF Edward Claughton President, PRI Management Group July 2015 “No Records Clerk is going to tell me how to write a report!” That’s what one sergeant recently said to me during a records management assessment I was conducting for the agency. Resisting the...
Open records law vs. right to privacy: what’s more important?
Edward Claughton PRI Management Group Openness, transparency, democracy; all good things obviously- the foundation upon which open records law is built and purposed. Some states do it better than others. Some states laws focus on openness, some focus on privacy....
Making Sure Your CAD/RMS Project Goes Right
Edward Claughton Print .pdf Last week a police department in Pennsylvania made the news because its 1.2 million dollar RMS and field reporting project isn't going well. The system is not doing what it was promised to do and what should have been a 1 year project has...
Leadership in law enforcement (and technology) still an issue
Ed Claughton August 2013 In a recent edition of The Records Room I mentioned an article about a failed police technology project in Pennsylvania in which the Chief displayed utter disregard for the concerns of his police officers. Granted, maybe there's more to the...
Is Records Management Taken Seriously At Your Agency?
Edward Claughton July 2012 Print .pdf Is your police records unit undervalued? Are the employees who work there appreciated? Is the records management function one that is taken seriously? If not, then it's time to take an inventory of this important area of your...
Alphabet Soup: NIEM, JIEM, GJXML. What Does It All Mean?
PRI Management Group May 2012 While information sharing in law enforcement isn't (in the grand scheme of things) a new concept, it is still new territory for many. Even with the Bureau of Justice Assistance tremendous efforts of making informational resources and...
Using UCR to compare your department
PRI Management Group October 2011 Print .pdf Can a police department use its UCR stats to compare itself (productivity, efficiency, etc.) to other departments? No! When can UCR be used for comparative purposes? To compare itself from year to year. First, lets see...
Are your crime stats accurate?
PRI Management Group Print .pdf Yes, crime stats and UCR are two very different things (more on that in a minute) and now more than ever it's time to be sure yours are correct. Has the media knocked on your door yet? Have your numbers been called into question even...
Police records accuracy and efficiency
PRI Management Group Print .PDF When police departments produce crime statistics which are inaccurate, whether through UCR or in-house reports, the impact can be felt on various levels (that is if the inaccuracy is discovered). Questions may come from the public,...
Leadership in Police Records Units
PRI Management Group Print. pdf If you have attended my Building a Model Police Records Section seminar you know that I am a fan of change. Change is a good thing so long as it makes sense and is needed. However problems can arise when change is made simply for the...
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